


the back and forth

by dottie_wan_kenobi



Series: ATLA Fics [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Borderline crack, Established Relationship, F/M, Family Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Next Generation, background Sokka/Suki - Freeform, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23103073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dottie_wan_kenobi/pseuds/dottie_wan_kenobi
Summary: “Come to Mama,” Katara coos, holding her hands out towards Lei. “Come on, sweetheart.”Beside her, Sokka mimics the pose, crouching instead of sitting all the way down. He only reaches out one of his hands, a little farther than hers. “Hanta, come to daddy.”The two babies, hardly a few weeks apart in age, sit several feet away. Hanta is teething, and seems much more interested in his fingers than either his dad or his aunt. Lei, at least, is looking at them, adorably confused. Katara can admit her nephew is just as adorable, but she’s determined to win this, dammit, and it doesn’t matter how cute he is.
Relationships: Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: ATLA Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2186028
Comments: 4
Kudos: 195
Collections: Zutara Week Throwbacks





	the back and forth

**Author's Note:**

> hey everyone, idk what this is really. i wrote it for the zutara week throwback, 2008 prompt "smug". not really beta read, my bad
> 
> Hanta means "hunter", Lei means "thunderous"

“Come to Mama,” Katara coos, holding her hands out towards Lei. “Come on, sweetheart.”

Beside her, Sokka mimics the pose, crouching instead of sitting all the way down. He only reaches out one of his hands, a little farther than hers. “Hanta, come to daddy.”

The two babies, hardly a few weeks apart in age, sit several feet away. Hanta is teething, and seems much more interested in his fingers than either his dad or his aunt. Lei, at least, is looking at them, adorably confused. Katara can admit her nephew is just as adorable, but she’s determined to win this, dammit, and it doesn’t matter how cute he is.

It takes a few more moments of coaxing before one of them finally makes a move. Thank the spirits, it’s Lei, shuffling forward slowly. She’s behind on the crawling, taking to it much later than Kya had. 

Sokka sees the disadvantage—Hanta is a fast crawler, but he has his dad’s attention span rather than his mom’s. Just as Lei picks up some speed, he tries, “Hanta, do you want some meat?”

It gets the little boy’s attention, and he shifts, his slobbery hand coming down on the hardwood with a noise that no longer phases anyone present. 

At the side of the room, Kya, held in Zuko’s arms, very seriously tells Zuko and Suki, “Babies are gross.”

Suki nods sagely, watching as Lei pauses halfway to Katara, and Hanta starts to pad over, a little _splat-splat-splat_ accompanying each movement.

“Lei, baby, come here,” Katara says, going so far as to unhook her necklace and dangle it out. Lei has always been fascinated with the pendant, and now is no exception—she crawls over excitedly, eyes trained on the beautiful blue rock. Hanta catches up to her quickly.

The moment the first baby crosses over the imagined line is anticlimactic. Lei doesn’t stop until she’s sitting in Katara’s lap, holding the necklace in her hands and ignoring Katara’s delighted face-kisses. 

Sokka takes Hanta into his arms, grumbling good-naturedly. “We’ll beat you next time,” he says, standing. His knees crack as he does it—Katara is definitely going to have to tease him about that soon.

“Isn’t that what you said the last time we tried this?” She blinks up at him innocently, not even trying to hide her smug grin.

“I—you—argh, you know what?” He turns to their spectators, the older two of which are watching with fond exasperation, while Kya just snickers at their bickering. “Are any of you going to save me from being ruthlessly bullied by own sister?”

“Bullied? I’m not bullying you!” Katara stands, too, and they end up mimicking each other again, their babies on their hips. “I’m just basking in the pride I feel that once again, my daughter won the race.”

Sokka rolls his eyes and doesn’t notice as Hanta starts to tug on his wolf-tail. “That’s ‘cause you’re a dirty cheat!”

“I am not!”

“Are too! You totally bribed her—!”

“Yeah, and you didn’t promise him any meat at all, huh?”

“Daddy,” Kya says, patting Zuko’s shoulder to get his attention. “I think Mama needs _re-forcemets_.”

“Reinforcements,” both Zuko and Suki correct at the same time, grinning. He goes on, “And I think you’re right. C’mon.”

“You two are going down,” Suki says conversationally as they walk over. “Katara totally cheated.”

“A- _HA_!” Sokka points at them, vindicated. “See! She agrees with me!”

“Of course she agrees with you, she’s your wife! She’s totally biased!”

“Oh, so Suki is biased but your husband is, what, the paragon of objectivity?”

“Yes,” Katara says with a straight face. “Yes, he is.”

Sokka’s mouth drops open into an annoyed little moue, and finally reaches up to get Hanta’s fingers out of his hair. “I can’t believe you,” he sighs, shaking his head. “I gotta go give the kid his lunch, anyway. Wanna come, Kya?”

She looks to Katara, who nods with a smile. Picking a fight with her brother is fun, but she’ll never let it come between her girls and him. All three of them adore each other, plus Suki and Hanta too.

Zuko hands Kya over, and before they leave, everyone gets hugs and cheek kisses, Water Tribe style. When Sokka leans in to rub his nose over Katara’s cheek, she says, “We cool?”

“Duh,” he replies, letting her return the gesture before pulling away.

They grin at each other, all made up. Still, when it’s just her, Zuko, and Lei remaining in the room, she turns to him and smirks. “You know, I think Lei gets her competitive streak from me.”

**Author's Note:**

> if u liked this, pls consider leaving a comment! thanks!! <3


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